The decisive battle between the two sections had ended.

The remaining element waves danced around, and the outer rings of the mountain had been wrecked by the sorceries. However, the crash site of that Stigmata had been solidified to the extent that little damage had been made except for the countless battered bodies of students lying on it.

Most of the corpses belonged to the 19th section however.

Glenn who was in flight over the area frowned. The blood and flesh of seven to eight Protectors were merged and blended in the fragmented crater!

Besides that, corpses lay in big piles and limbs were everywhere with blood running like the water in a creek. Two medics were treating two wounded owls whose breaths were weak already.

Looking down on the scene, Glenn could definitely tell the fierceness of that battle.

Glenn could acquire over 200 badges (Gade had 170-180 badges) without putting in too much effort in the rear of the 19th section, while it was much harder to get even dozens here, and might be sucked into a war where personal endeavors might make little difference.

Teams from the 12th section swarmed towards the remaining 20 resource points of the 19th section. They had lost that decisive battle, so it was only a matter of time before these points would fall.

By then they would have no stronghold and would run about to escape from the 12th who would kill them mercilessly for the badges.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In another crater, 70-80 19th section students looked up at the people standing on the edge of the crater, eyes terrified and hands tied, waiting to be "judged".

But the people and girls up there seemed to be divided into several camps and were arguing over some issue.

"Eh?" Glenn noticed some people he was acquainted with in the teams and the headman was Alastair. He flew directly to him with the hope of getting information about Lafite.

"We have to assign hands to watch them if we keep them alive. What if the 19th section made a comeback and we were pincer attacked? As a member of Death Sail League, I'd say kill them. No mercy on our enemies." Alastair's voice was determined. He couldn't summon up much pity after the cruelties he had been inflicted upon on that bloody ship and during the many years in Black Isotta.

Sympathy was now a luxury and a long-gone memory for many of the students.

A female student disagreed. "We Sand River League were responsible for catching these prisoners, so I say we let go of them since their badges have been taken. Otherwise we would be the same as those Black Sorcerers."

"Bullshit, how could you bring up the Black Sorcerers? Killing mutually was allowed in this Sorcerer World. It conforms to..." Another voice came from a camp, shouting out dirty words.

"Who says this is a war? You're still in the black about what this is really about..." Another one argued.

Glenn felt annoyed by the boring conversations as he walked to Alastair quietly.

Alastair turned back, shocked. "Glenn, you look..."

Glenn's appearance was awful. His symbolic Ashen mask was cracked besides his ragged clothes. Alastair swallowed what he was going to say.

Glenn took a glance at the students in the crater who were either assuming wretched or angry expressions. He was not in the mood to care for such boring matter and so replied lightly. "Do you know where Lafite is? It's a mess here and the crystal ball doesn't work. She must have gone out of range."

Alastair slightly opened his mouth and mumbled a location.

Glenn frowned. "What's up? Did anything happen to her?"

"You'll know when you're there." Alastair forced a smile.

Glenn squinted and he soared into the air leaving behind clear footprints on the ground. The next second he started heading off to where Alastair had informed him to go by applying the sorcery of gravitational and repulsive forces. His fast speed drew great attention from the crowd below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Glenn recognized several familiar students on the ground in a quarter of time. They were members of the Death Sail league resting up. Glenn flew to them and landed by them steadily.

"Glenn..."

Glenn was greeted by Lafite. She looked very sad and appeared not in the mood to talk.

He grimaced subconsciously as he scanned around with his eyes. Lafite, Robinson, Robin...they looked fine but when his eyes rested on the crying girl who was facing Glenn with her back and that student lying on the ground, he saw why their emotions were torn.

He walked up to Nina silently and fixed his eyes on the man whose parts were pieced together. It was the man who had accompanied him from Bi Seer city, the man who he disliked at first and whom Glenn soon believed in to the extent of trusting him with his own life. Now his fragmented parts were only glued together.

"Black sorcerers were not Bright sorcerers after all."

As the Black sorcerers continue with their practice of dark sorceries, their hearts grew crueler. They would trust no one and thus would rarely make close friends. Thus, they were lonely in this mind, and this was a transition they had to experience over a long period of savage killings.

Glenn understood that his grief was because of his loss of something important to him.

Robinson walked up to Glenn and said in a low voice. "It was a random killing by the Protectors. After he pulled off the Hematology sorcery, his thirst for blood made him lose his mind and went too far off from our side. We even didn't have the time to go to his rescue..."

Robinson seemed rather sad, even sadder than Glenn was, because he had been with Chris longer than he was with Glenn.

Glenn managed to hold back his sorrow. He was a man and he was not going to drop tears of weakness, yet his voice was choked. "Is it a side effect of the Hematology sorcery?"

Nina kept wailing at Chris' side, and she hadn't realized that her mask which covered half of her scar-ruined face had dropped off.

She was naturally aggrieved as she had lost her brother who she relied on since she was a little girl. He had protected her from dangers and sheltered her from wind and rain...Now that he was gone, she couldn't be that reliant girl any more. No one in this sorcerer world would treat her the way her brother did, even her husband.

True feelings from the depths of a sorcerer's heart was touching. It could melt away psychological barriers. The dead girl from the 20 Drops of Blood was of that kind.

Berg couldn't keep his feelings anymore and strode to Glenn. He shouted at him as he clutched his clothes. "Where have you been all the time? You wanna do it solo? No, you're just hiding from something. You're scared. You're in fear! You have Alastair's level of power and yet you're a coward within! If you were with us, no one in your team would have died. She wouldn't be hurt so much."

Meddling with affairs as such seldom occurred between sorcerers, and the possibility of Black Sorcerers doing this would be "never".

However, it was Nina's pure feelings towards her brother which touched the strings of Berg's heart and urged him into speaking as such.

Berg's rudeness angered the grieving Glenn so much that his eyes behind the mask showed the intention to killing.

A strong repulsive force was applied and Berg was pushed back several steps after he was forced to relinquish his grip on his clothes.

Berg mumbled. "You..." Having realized his social faux pas, Berg didn't say anything more, and watched Glenn in terror. For a moment, he felt...

Glenn stared at Berg, and his murderous intent was gone.

A sudden influx of boring feelings struck Glenn as he looked at Berg's ignorant expression.

Some students were younger and some were shorter-sighted, so silliness was at its play every day. However, people were aware of the stupidity of particular things yet they would do it possibly because of that short-sightedness. It was as if they lived in a very limited area and were forced to do it.

Glenn seemed to have no intention of explaining to Berg, maybe because he was mature, and could look beyond. A man who was strong inside didn't give a shit to talk with someone whose mind was bent only on today.

Actions spoke louder than words.

Glenn went back to Nina and kneeled. He then burned Chris' body with the flame and handed 100 badges to her. "I know Chris is gone. He's your dear brother and he's also my friend. These badges don't mean that I'm offering you my help. I'm avenging my friend. Sorcerer students face death by the minute. People die and we'll die. Grow up Nina."

Nina looked up with her eyes still in tears. Her eyes had swollen and her body was shaking. She looked like a helpless lamb having lost its mother.

"Glenn. Woo..." Nina hugged Glenn tightly, venting her indescribable anguish and her tears soaked Glenn's ragged cloak.

With Chris gone, Nina was dead too, or was she reborn?

Glenn noticed the scar-destroyed half face of hers and Chris' promise of curing his sister's face came to Glenn's mind. It didn't come true after all. The world didn't continue or stop running because of someone's will, especially the weak ones.

Berg noticed Glen giving Nina 100 badges and he knew the acquirement of these could only be through killing students from the 19th section. How could he criticize Glenn as a coward and had been hiding? His face stung and body burned as if the students on the scene were judging his previous behaviors. He wished the earth would crack so that he could slip into it to escape from their irony-filled eyes.

It was like he was being slapped by the mockeries he threw at Glenn. Wasn't he akin to a clown playing in an old stage play?

He left, face red and head kept low----He wouldn't stay here any longer than the time taken to inhale, and this place was where he bore the mark of shame and finally learned to grow up.